


Patience

by Khateeah



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Multi, Shimadacest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-12
Updated: 2016-06-12
Packaged: 2018-07-14 14:00:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7174706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khateeah/pseuds/Khateeah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zenyatta overhears Genji talking in his sleep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Patience

“Ani… anija…” Genji breathed, his words barely audible in the cold, unforgiving darkness.

“Anija… p-please…” His words became louder; pleading. The sheets rustled as he moved beneath them, arms stretched long above his head and past the edge of his mattress, heavy cybernetic hands scraping bluntly against the worn wooden floor.

A soft blue glow, barely visible, illuminated the room. It glanced off the angled curves of Genji’s mask, illuminated the crumpled mass of sheets he didn’t really need that blanketed his midsection. His legs were bare, uncovered and spread over the width of the mattress. His knees drew back suddenly with a gasp, his spine arching off his mattress briefly before collapsing back where he lay with a shivering moan.

“M-more, onii-chan! D-DON’T ST–”

A sharp gasp, and then silence. He was awake. Hanzo was nowhere to be found - but someone was, someone who had taken to his side, day and night, never leaving him alone since he’d found him, alone and in despair…

He wasn’t sure how much he’d said out loud, lost in his dreams. He’d woken up in the midst of a scream, helpless beneath his brother, eagerly taking every inch the older man had to offer. It had been his secret, their secret that they’d shared late at night, giving all of themselves to one another time after time in their own private ritual of love, of comfort, of loyalty.

Tears pooled behind his mask, but he didn’t dare remove it to wipe them, giving away his wakeful state. Zenyatta was there beside him, he could feel the omnic staring at him, ocular sensors fixed on his motionless form. If there was one thing he could be sure of, it was that whatever he’d said, Zenyatta had heard it.

“Genji?” As if on cue, the omnic spoke. The sound made Genji jump, and Zenyatta’s lights flared gently with concern. “What troubles you, my student?”

“Sensei…” Genji whispered before falling silent again for a long while, unsure of what to say. “What… what did you hear?”

The question was barely audible even to Zenyatta’s finely tuned ears. “I heard your pain.”

A tiny, rough sob escaped Genji at those words. He felt his heart breaking anew beneath Zenyatta’s kindness - there was no judgment, no disgust in his voice. Only the same comforting timbre he’d come to know so well in the past few months.

“A-and?” Genji winced at his own inquiry - did he really want an answer? It didn’t matter; it was too late to go back.

“And I heard your sorrow runs even deeper than I’d estimated.” The omnic floated closer before lowering himself to sit at Genji’s side, one robotic hand reaching to rest on the cyborg’s upturned shoulder. “Do you want to talk about him?”

It was more than just a sore subject, and Genji had met Zenyatta’s questions before with harsh rebuttal. But now… now he had nothing left to hide.

Genji nodded and sat up on his mattress, arms draped over his legs, his head hung low in embarrassment. He wanted to talk about Hanzo, needed to talk about him, and yet, he could trust no one. No one except perhaps the omnic that sat beside him now; always patient, always understanding.

“He…” Genji choked back another sob, wrestling to keep his composure. “He was my world, master.” Genji huffed the words as if they’d taken all of his strength to speak, his voice heavy with his tears. “I loved him, yes, but… he was the only one who knew me. He knew everything, every secret I ever had, everything I ever did. Until one day he just… changed.”

Genji shyly dipped his head as he lifted trembling fingers to the rear of his helm, releasing the clasps and lowering his faceplate with a hiss. Even in the impossibly dim light, Zenyatta could make out the glimmer of tears on Genji’s scarred cheeks as he hastily wiped them away. “It was… around when he came of age. One day, he was just… cold. He wouldn’t talk to me, wouldn’t even look at me. And it went on for months…” Slowly, Genji raised his head, his eyes focusing on the gentle blue array of lights that adorned the omnic’s forehead. “It broke me, master.”

Zenyatta remained still, his every attention turned on his student. It took Genji a long moment before he spoke again. “He… he became cruel. He would beat me until I was unconscious when we trained, ignore me when I needed him most, berate me and bring me down when I was happy. And I just… got used to it, I guess. At least… until…”

Genji’s cheeks reddened, his gaze flickering downwards. “It had been years since he’d changed, when one night he… he came into my room. I think he’d been crying, but he tried to hide it. And… he just walked right over and kissed me.” The cyborg hiccup’d, his cold, metallic hands sweeping back over his head to clasp behind his neck. “And I… I started crying too, because somehow, some way, after so many terrible years between us… my brother still knew exactly what I needed, even before I did.”

He paused, eyes lifting to meet the omnic’s gaze once more. “That was the first night. The first time he… he took me. And it… was beautiful.”

Falling silent at last, Genji let his head fall against his knees, silent tears streaming hotly down his cheeks, chilled by the frigid night air. Though silent, his pain smouldered between them with a weight only the oldest, deepest wounds could create. Zenyatta let Genji rest, waiting until the trembling of the cyborg’s shoulders had all but ceased before moving to seat himself between his student and the cold stone wall behind them. Tender robotic hands reached forward to thread themselves beneath Genji’s arms, coaxing him back until his full weight rested against the omnic’s chest.

“You mourn for him.“

“I don’t know what happened. I don’t understand what made him… change. I mean, after we began… seeing each other, it was almost as if nothing had gone amiss in the first place. I was happy, Hanzo was happy! He was still distant, yes, but when we were together… sometimes, he would smile again.”

Feeling suddenly exposed, Genji replaced his faceplate, clicking it back into place with a soft hiss. “I mourn for him… for us. For what we shared. I didn’t believe there was any bond in the world stronger than ours. But… I was wrong.” His voice dissolved into a growl, bitter and laden with resentment. “For all that we shared… all that I gave him, whatever he wanted… it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t enough.”

Wordlessly, Zenyatta softly pressed his face into the crook of Genji’s neck, his slender metallic fingers sliding over the circular vents at the cyborg’s shoulders, illuminated by the slightest dim green glow. Choking back another sob, Genji gave in to the omnic’s tender gestures, letting his head fall back to rest against his master’s shoulder.

“I gave him everything! Anything he desired of me, I never denied him. Not once!” Genji’s voice keened on the edge of frustration, fists flexing at his sides.

“Do you resent him for it?”

“… No. It… serving him, it made me happy. Only… that night, before he… he took too much. He… he…!”

“Stop, my student.” A loud sob tore from Genji’s throat as he slumped back in his master’s arms, defeated. “You’re exhausted.”

“I need him, master!”

“I know.”

Genji made a half-hearted attempt to free himself, but the omnic held him fast. “Rest, kouhai.”

“I c-can’t, not while he’s… out there…”

“Yes, you can.” Before the words had left him, Zenyatta’s hands had moved to either side of Genji’s neck, deceptively strong digits pressing and kneading the muscles beneath the man’s cybernetic shell. A low, soft hum accompanied his motions, strangely and serenely comforting, meant to lull the man in his arms softly to sleep. It didn’t take long.

“Patience, Genji.”

**Author's Note:**

> For more like this follow me at khateeah.tumblr.com :3


End file.
